Missed Strike
by Triscribe
Summary: Second season, ninth episode. What if Kallus got to the Interdictor Star Destroyer before Kanan and Rex? And then was able to leave with Ezra before they pulled a rescue off?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: When I first started watching Rebels several months ago, that first episode gave me the idea to write my story Mistaken. Now, after finally bulldozing through all of Season 2 in three days, I've been hit by the thought that episode nine had a lot of potential to turn out MUCH worse... (insert evil cackle here)_

 _I hope you all enjoy!_

 _-Triscribe_

Chapter 1

"And what is your name, young man?"

"Jabba the Hutt." Ezra said flatly. In spite of himself, Commander Sato was hard-pressed not to snort. He might grow irritated with the boy's impudence when aboard his own ship, but it was amusing to see that same attitude turned upon their captors.

The Admiral, however, did not seem to be so amused. "Hm. A bit small for a Hutt, but then I know of someone else who's used that alias before - Ezra Bridger." Automatically, Sato stiffened. Ezra's irritating habits aside, he was still a child, one temporarily placed in the Commander's care. If the man before them knew who he was, the boy's safety just became that much more precarious.

"You should consider yourself quite fortunate, actually," the Admiral smirked at them. "Since I knew more guests would be arriving shortly, I took the liberty of contacting Agent Kallus when we captured your previous patrol. He'll be here soon, and then you won't have to put up with our company any longer."

 _That_ statement caused Sato's insides to drop unpleasantly.

-MS-

Less than an hour after being shoved unceremoniously into a cell with the rest of his crew and the missing patrol members, Sato tensed as the door was slid open and a tall stormtrooper entered.

Relief and new anxiety warred within him when the man pulled off his helmet and was revealed to be Kanan Jarrus.

"Is everyone alright?" The Jedi asked, scanning the crowd of faces.

"We're fine," Sato said. "But they took Ezra elsewhere - to wait for Agent Kallus' arrival."

Kanan's face tightened, but he simply waved the rebels out of their cell, handing his gun over to Sato as he did so.

-MS-

Rex and Kanan managed to keep the host of stormtroopers back as Sato led his men towards their ship. At one point, the old clone very nearly cut himself off in order to buy them more time, but Kanan used to Force to pull him through the blast doors just before they could close.

As soon as they reached the rebel transport, Sato hurried for the cockpit along with his pilots, firing up all systems and pulling away from the Destroyer. At first, it looked as though they wouldn't be able to get away from the gravity well, but then the bomb planted in the generator's controls by the astromech Chopper went off, causing the device to malfunction and destroy the entire vessel.

Once they successfully made the jump to hyperspace, Sato slumped back with a sigh. And that, of course, was the moment Kanan stormed into the cockpit, demanding to know exactly what had happened to his Padawan.

-MS-

The heightened security was a pain, but at least Ezra got to amuse himself by making faces at the stormtroopers standing in the cell with him. Locked into a torture table similar to the one he'd pulled Kanan off of the year before, it wasn't like the teen could do much else. He would have tried tricking the troopers into letting him out earlier, but on the march to this cell Kallus let slip that his men were wearing sound-proofed helmets, only able to hear their comms and nothing else.

It was more than a little annoying, to be honest.

Annoyance turned to trepidation when the cell door slid open, revealing Agent Mutton Chops himself wearing a grim smile. "Good news, Jabba. Someone's arrived who wants to, _talk,_ to you."

Ezra felt his insides drop when the Inquisitor known as Seventh Sister appeared.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks for the great reviews, guys! I'm hoping to have this story hammered out and complete by the end of next week, but in the meantime here's part two - hope you all enjoy!_

Chapter 2

"I remember one mission," Rex said quietly as he sat beside Kanan and Hera. "When Ahsoka was escorting a group of clones to the backside of a base we were attacking, while General Skywalker and I handled the main assault in front. Right when the rest of us were distracted, this group of Trandoshans attacked, stunning her and dragging the Commander off. We didn't realize she was gone until after the battle was over - I was one of the ones who investigated the area she'd disappeared from, where I found her lightsabers."

The Jedi didn't seem to be paying him the least bit of attention, but Hera at least had picked her head up a bit to watch as well as listen.

"Anakin nearly lost his head in the days afterward, trying to figure out where she'd gone, who had taken her, how we were going to get her back. The rest of the battalion was right behind him, at first, before the notion started spreading that she was probably dead." Rex couldn't help a slight smile as he thought about it. "I didn't stop thinking for a minute that she'd be fine. And sure enough, a week later, the Commander showed up back at the Temple on Coruscant, covered in grime and bruises, but alive, in the company of a couple other kidnapped Padawans and the wookies they'd allied themselves with in order to escape the Trandoshans."

"What's your point, Rex?" Kanan mumbled, head still bowed and staring at the floor. "The Empire has a lot better security than any Trandoshan hunting party."

"True," the clone agreed. "But Ezra's also managed to get himself past that security before. We'll look for him, worry our brains out the whole time, but I bet you ten to one, he's gonna show back up with a rebel cell complaining about us taking too long to pull of a rescue and how he had to go and bust himself out."

Kanan snorted, Hera smiled, and Rex felt better about helping the pair keep their spirits up.

-MS-

Sabine knocked on the door to Zeb and Ezra's room, entering despite there being no response. She found the Lasat sitting on the floor, slumped back against his bunk, staring at the ceiling. Without a word, she moved to take up a position beside him. The pair stayed there for at least an hour, simply taking silent comfort from the other, until Chopper rolled in to tell them dinner was ready.

-MS-

Ahsoka knew how important Ezra was, not just as one of the few remaining Jedi in the Rebellion but also as the youngest member of the _Ghost_ crew. Getting him back was important for the moral of all the Spectres - and the first step to retrieving the kid was locating him.

So, Fulcrum checked in with all her Imperial contacts, searching for any word of the captured Bridger. Finally, she found a report that chilled her to the core: one detailing a prisoner transfer from Agent Kallus' custody to that of a member of the Inquisitorius.

While still stewing over the decision to let Kanan and Hera know about the heightened danger their boy had been placed in, Ahsoka stumbled across a different report. More of a notation, really, with brief mention of the same ship that Ezra was transferred to. Apparently, it sustained damage while in hyperspace and was forced to return to normal speed, whereupon further explosions crippled the engines shortly before all escape pods were jettisoned.

With a grim smile, Ahsoka went to inform the top two Spectres that Ezra was on the loose again.

-MS-

With a muted groan, Ezra pushed himself out of the escape pod and happily dropped to the dusty ground. While a dry expanse of scrubland hadn't been his first choice for a destination, it was loads better than still being held in an Imperial cell - especially since the desert had no Inquisitors poking him with all manner of unpleasant things, from mental probes to electro prods.

Still, if he wanted to avoid going back to that situation, he'd have to get moving.

Readjusting the bandages made from his torn sleeves, the teen set off across the landscape, heading in a direction that didn't seem quite so desolate.

-MS-

"Well," Sabine suppressed a chuckle as the _Ghost_ came out of hyperspace. "This definitely has Ezra written all over it."

The starcruiser, smaller than a Destroyer but no less intimidating, was nearly in two pieces from the explosions caused by engine malfunction. It was clearly no longer carrying any personnel, any who survived likely having taken off in the escape pods to be picked up by other Imperial craft.

Kanan, though, wasn't looking at the wreckage like everyone else. His eyes were closed, one hand extended out in front of him, searching for the familiar Force presence that should be nearby.

Finally, he found something. "There. See that gas giant? He's on a moon on the far side. But we need to hurry - he's not alone."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Oh little Jedi, come out come out wherever you are!" The Seventh Sister's mocking laughter bounced around through the maze of canyon walls, causing Ezra to flinch and shuffle along a bit faster. Trying the hide from the Inquisitor would be a lost cause, so the teen kept moving, clinging grimly to the hope that he'd be found by friendlies _before_ being caught and dragged back to the torture chamber.

His muscles kept seizing up from time to time, dried blood coated his arms and lower legs, but Ezra's biggest problem was the lingering serum in his veins, still blocking most of his ability to access the Force. While he'd been able to push past them all in order to escape from the ship, exhaustion was making such a thing infinitely more difficult by this point.

"Found you!" The sing-song voice was the only warning he had, a split second before a heavy weight plowed into his back, driving Ezra to the ground. He gasped and coughed from the new pain blooming across his chest, while the Inquisitor chuckled as she approached. "My my, you've certainly come a long way, even with that Force-suppressant still working. Not far enough, though."

Ezra couldn't help the small flinch when her lightsaber activated, the crimson tip humming less than an inch away from his face. Too tired to muster up a sarcastic retort, he settled for glaring up at the Mirialan.

"Oh? Nothing to say? Have broken you that much already?" Letting out another chuckle, she pulled out a pair of binders and locked them around Ezra's wrists behind his back. The Inquisitor then flipped him over, grabbed ahold of his left ankle, and started dragging him back the way they'd come. One of her little probe droids took up a position hovering just behind them, keeping a close watch on Ezra in case he tried anything.

Honestly, though, the teen was just too tired to put up a struggle at the moment. He resigned himself to waiting for a better opportunity-

The Inquisitor froze. Ezra looked at her in weary confusion, wondering what had attracted the crazy woman's attention. His leg was suddenly released in favor of the Seventh Sister snatching his collar, hauling him upright so fast Ezra's head spun.

"If you don't want me to start cutting off limbs, I suggest you show yourself," his captor called out. A moment later, Kanan jumped down from the cliff above in order to land just in front of them.

Dire situation aside, Ezra couldn't help but relax a bit at the sight of his mentor. Then the end of Inquisitor's unlit lightsaber was held against his neck, and all his anxiety came right back again.

"Now," his captor practically purred. "Give your saber and blaster to my pet, and then we're all going to walk back to my ship with no fuss or struggle, understand?"

"Kanan, don't-!" Ezra's words turned into a pained hiss as the Inquisitor dug her fingers into one of the gashes on his arm. In turn, Kanan practically threw his weapons at the hovering droid, which then brought them back to the Seventh Sister. As she reached up to take them, however, something slammed into the backs of both her and Ezra's legs, sending them stumbling forward.

Sabine and Zeb immediately rose into sight on the cliff above, and starting firing at the Inquisitor while Chopper, cackling from the success of his sneak attack, used a manipulator to snag the front of Ezra's tattered jumpsuit and pull him away from the fight. Kanan crossed paths with them, sending the teen a relieved smile even as he summoned his lightsaber in order to attack and further distract the Seventh Sister.

-MS-

Hera was tapping her foot anxiously as she watched more than half her family set of into the moon's wilderness in search of their missing member. Rex was staying behind with her, though just as Hera waited in the cockpit he was positioned in the ship's top turret as a precaution.

Half an hour later, that foresight proved to be well-placed.

Chopper appeared out of a gully several hundred yards away, leading a stumbling Ezra. Despite not being able to pick out many details, Hera could still easily spot a great deal more red on the boy than there should've been, something that turned her stomach unpleasantly.

While the pair were still hurrying towards the _Ghost,_ Zeb and Sabine came out of the same gully, firing back the way they'd come. And only a few seconds behind them was Kanan, dueling a female Inquisitor that Hera would bet her bottom credit was the same one who'd captured Ezra a couple months before on the med station mission.

"Rex, start laying down some cover fire!" She ordered over the ship's comm, even as her hands moved to activate the engines.

 _*Understood, Captain.*_ Laser blasts began raining down around the spot Jedi and Sith were battling. The Inquisitor was forced to back away, which Kanan took full advantage off, as he immediately turned and began running for the ship. He caught up to the other Spectres along the way, the three of them coming alongside Ezra and Chopper just as they passed out of Hera's sight, disappearing beneath the _Ghost_ and, hopefully, onto the waiting ramp.

 _*Everyone's aboard, Spectre Two, get us out of here!*_ She only had to hear Kanan's first couple words before taking off, lifting up and out of the Inquisitor's range before there was time for her to get close enough for another attack.

-MS-

"The next time someone volunteers me for another mission," Ezra grumbled as Kanan finished bandaging the last of his injuries. "Remind me to run in the opposite direction."

"I'll keep it in mind." The older Jedi grinned, giving his Padawan a nudge to lie down. Needing no other encouragement, Ezra eased himself into laying flat on the med bay bed, easily dropping into an exhausted sleep as soon as his eyes were closed.

Once he'd finished putting the unused supplies away, Kanan sank into the room's chair, positioned directly beside the bed. He finally allowed himself to look closer at the injuries his student had sustained during the mere couple days he was away from them, and decided then and there that Ezra would NOT be going on any other missions without at least one other Spectre around too.

-MS-

When word came in that Spectre Six had been recovered, Commander Sato took a moment to close his eyes in relief. Guilt over the boy's capture and subsequent transfer had been eating at the man, but to know he was once again aboard the _Ghost_ was like the dawn coming after a long, cold night.

After returning to the Rebel fleet, it took a few days for the young Jedi to return to full strength, during which time he was never seen without one or more members of his crew close by. This evidently got on his nerves rather quickly, hence why Sato wasn't surprised one morning to have Ezra arrive on the bridge of his command ship via the ventilation ducts.

"I'm never going to have another minute of privacy again," the boy muttered, replacing the vent cover he'd come through before dropping to the ground. "Hey, Commander."

"Hello, Ezra. Are you up to crawling around in those?" Sato asked, eyeing the youth.

"Maybe not, but it was the only way to get away from the others. Even _Zeb's_ been hovering over me! Can I _please_ hide here for a while?"

At the pleading expression sent his way, Sato couldn't help but smile slightly. "Of course."


End file.
